Apparently people found the casting for some characters in The Hunger Games incredibly troubling. Like, did you READ the books? The ones you’re the most upset about were cast almost exactly to book description! Argh. ARGH.

Young Adult is NOT what I expected. At all. Like, it’s not as lighthearted as they lead you to believe in previews.

The Muppets, on the other hand, is positively delightful. If you are in your thirties, maybe late twenties, you will want to bash your head into a wall to quell the surge of childhood memories that happens when you see this film. It’s so good that I want to throw up rainbows onto Jason Segel’s face. It’s so good that I want to hermit myself away and watch the entirety of the Muppet Show while I live on a steady diet of Red Bull and Mike and Ike’s.

My dad is home from China and I wish I could magically transport myself home so I could hear all of his stories first-hand. My dad is an excellent storyteller. I hope the people he met understand how awesome a human being he is and how lucky they were to hang out with him!

Regular season baseball is so. stinking. close. I have so many games on my wishlist (even an A’s game! But to see the Red Sox. Because of Cody Ross.) and so little money. Also planning on some AAA games. I follow all these nice, hardworking minor leaguers on Twitter; I’d love to see some of them in person.

Lastly, here is a picture I took a few weekends ago while it was stormy in northern California. Nature is neat-o, kids!

Remember how, at the end of last season, I created my own awards and gave them away to baseball players? Remember how I gave Ryan Vogelsong an award for having the story I never wanted to hear about again? Well, I, and Ryan, should have known that it wouldn’t be so easy as putting an offseason between a break-out, come-back season and a new season. Good lord no. Ryan Vogelsong is going to live with the spectre of 2011 for the rest of his life, a thing for which I am sure he is eternally grateful. I’m not even being sarcastic. Even if I was tired of hearing his story over and over and over again, it still inspired me and made me happy because who doesn’t want to hear about someone who pays zir dues and then is handsomely rewarded with success?

The Giants media machine has been in high gear the past few months, shooting spots for the new commercials. They are, like Giants commercials in seasons past, humorous and enthralling and aimed at getting us pumped for the 2012 season. It’s working. I mean, who doesn’t like to watch Brian Wilson run in slow motion through the streets of San Francisco while his ocean blue eyes pierce your soul?

Wait. What?

At any rate, after the quirky “it’s not just X but also Y” ™ commercial came out (and let’s mourn together that some of us don’t live or work in the Bay Area and couldn’t be extras in these commercials), a few others have appeared on the ol’ TV box. Shot the same day, or around the same time, as the “it’s not just X but also Y” ™ spot, they focus on an individual player. The first I saw was for Buster Posey, which I may have very well cried during because IT’S BUSTER POSEY HITTING A BALL A BUNCH OF TIMES. The second one was for Tim Lincecum, which was almost pornographic, what with the soft focus on his eyes and the flowing hair and his entire delivery in slow motion. The third was for Ryan Vogelsong. I saw it this morning, online. And uh…it’s approaching creeper status.

This is why we love Ryan Vogelsong.
And this is why we love Ryan Vogelsong.This. Is why. We love. Ryan.

I imagine all Giants fans posted outside the Vogelhouse, binoculars in hand, watching while Ryan does the dishes. Or while Ryan brushes his teeth. Or while Ryan frantically calls 9-1-1 because there are 50,000 people sitting outside DEAR MOTHER OF GOD MAKE THEM GO AWAYYYYYYYYYYYY.

It’s like the Giants quietly surveyed Tumblr in order to get the creeper vibe just right. And I think they nailed it. I mean, they could’ve thrown in a few more MRS. VOGELSONG shirts to make it more authentic, but they probably didn’t want Nicole to stab everyone in the face with her fabulousness*.

My greatest hope for Ryan in the upcoming season is domination. World domination. And a new story. A better story. One that includes a ring.

Vogey is currently scheduled to pitch an inning tomorrow night against Texas. He shouldn’t have any problems, as Texas is a rather large and cumbersome state that swings at like, anything. Also, Baggs gave Tim Lincecum some advice about balls today. The mental image was, at best, scarring.

*Nicole is fabulous and you should all love her and follow her on Twitter.

How is it possible to sum up someone like Brian Wilson in a couple of lines? Last year alone he purchased 2 pairs of Nike MAG shoes to benefit Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Disease charity, gave a baseball glove to every child participating in the Jr. Giants program in San Francisco (over 1,000 kids) and established the Michael Wilson Scholarship for US Air Force Cadets (in memory of his father). Oh yeah, he also earned the save in his third All Star Game and was fined by MLB for wearing non-conforming shoes, or as he put it: “Having too much awesome on my feet.” Happy Birthday Brian, we can’t wait to see what this year brings!

Finishing books. I hate finishing books. I’m pretty sure I’ve hated it since I began reading novels. It doesn’t happen with every book, but to me it’s a sign of a good book. It’s the same kind of feeling I get when I’m sitting on the tarmac in a plane that’s going to take me back home and away from my parents. That kind of lump in your throat, knot in your stomach empty feeling. The kind that grates on you and nags at the back of your mind for awhile. With books, it can last days. The last time it happened that I remember is when I finished Atonement.That was last year. Or the end of the year before it. I don’t remember. That book gave me the empty gnawing feeling for several reasons. For one, the book was over. No more world to escape into, no more moving through the story alongside the characters I either loved or hated. For another, it made me crave words again. I hadn’t felt that in a long time, so it was difficult to put the book down once I finished.

In case you haven’t noticed, I just finished a book. Oh, internets. I just finished a book. In fact, I finished three books. Not simultaneously. Tonight I wound down the last 60 or so pages of Mockingjay, the third and final book in the Hunger Games triology.

Y’all, I want to rip my still-beating heart out of my chest and light it on fire. Despite everything that has happened through all three books, I didn’t cry until Buttercup showed up. And then I bawled through the last few pages. And then I read the last words, put down the..uh…Kindle and cried. Like a baby. My heart. Hurts. A lot.

I hate finishing books. And these books…if you’ve read them, you know. The overwhelming implications of our current actions played out in a future version of the U.S. It’s mind-boggling and scary. But aside from that, there’s the mental anguish and abuse that takes place. It’s a lot to process.

I have opinions on the series (ranked in order: first, third, second) and might get into my critiques later, but for right now I’m just going to mourn the finality of finishing a book and try to find a way to ease my mind into sleep. Because smarty pants that I am, I decided to finish the book right before bed. Excellent idea, especially since I just figured out it’s been giving me nightmares for a few weeks.

Do you enjoy books, internets? Are you sad when you finish them? What was the last book you read? Did you enjoy it?

Dan: Orlando Rojas.Rebecca: I don’t know who that is.Dan: Orlando Rojas the pitcher.Rebecca: Oh, Orlando Rojas the pitcher.Dan: Yes.Rebecca: I don’t know who that is.Dan: He’s pitching this afternoon.Rebecca: Orlando Rojas?Dan: Yes.Rebecca: I don’t know who that is.Dan: That’s hard to believe.Rebecca: I took an elevator up 12 floors, Dan, what did you want to tell me?Dan: I wanted to tell you that Orlando Rojas is pitching this afternoon.Rebecca: You couldn’t tell me that on the phone?Dan: You don’t like it when I bother you at work.Rebecca: Hey, is it okay if I hit you in the head with this big book?Dan: That’s Casey’s.Rebecca: Casey, is it okay if I hit Dan in the head with this big book?Casey: Yeah.Dan: She doesn’t know who Orlando Rojas is.Casey: He’s a pitcher.Dan: He’s pitching this afternoon.Casey: Orlando Rojas?Dan: Yeah.Rebecca: You guys, seriously, I’m just gonna sit down in the middle of the room and cry.Dan: 11 years ago he pitched a perfect game.Rebecca: A perfect game?Dan: Yes ma’am.Rebecca: And a perfect game is good? (Dan and Casey exchange looks)Dan: Listen, I know there’s a lot of jargon but some of these are pretty self-explanatory.Rebecca: I have to go back to my office. (Rebecca exits. Dan follows her.)

That’s a scene from Sports Night. One of my favorite scenes now because I was Rebecca, at one point in my life. Before I started watching baseball, I didn’t care and I thought spring training was silly and WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE SO EXCITED THEY AREN’T EVEN REAL GAMES YET.

And here I am, years later, sitting in my living room and making sure I have a good connection to KNBR so I can listen – LISTEN – to the first game of spring training on the RADIO. Lincecum is pitching, Huff is at first, and Belt is the DH. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY FEELINGS ARE DOING.